Connecting Star Wars and STEM Activities

The goal: Create a Star Wars Galaxy using these free printable planet labels and a variety of sports balls

The challenge: Use math calculations to make a Scale Model of the Star Wars planets -- meaning that we need to know the size of each planet and keep the same size relationship when choosing which sports ball to use for each one.

One thing I LOVE about this activity is that there are SO many math terms that come about in a natural way (you'll totally see what I mean). We're also including the resources we used along with affiiate links for the books & items you may need for the project.

The second page of the printable includes the Planet labels for each one in the Star Wars Galaxy as seen above.

We cut out each of the planet labels and taped them to popsicle sticks because we wanted to create our galaxy in the backyard (so the popsicle sticks helped us to stand the signs up in front of each sports ball).

The first page of the free printable is the math calcuation worksheet you see above -- we've filled in the current size of each of the planets to give everyone a head start.

You can see on the sheet, the kids will need to do two sets of calcuations:

1. If you choose, ask your kids to convert the metric size of each planet to the standard measure

You'll be converting from kilometers to miles so you want to multiple the current size by .62 to get the planet's size in miles. We chose to do this because we were using a measuring tape and my daughter is much more familiar with standard measure. Plus, I think conversions are great because they help kids become more familiar with both measurement systems.

2. Next, you'll want to convert from miles to inches.

This can be done many ways depending on how big or small you'd like your scale model to be once finished.For our model, we wanted the planet sizes to be somewhere between 3 inches and 16 inches based on the sports balls we rounded up to use so we decided to divide each planet size by 1000 and then use a 1:1 conversion from miles to inches.

What you need to know about a scale model -- as long as you use the same math calcuations with ALL of the items in your set, you are scaling everything down equally and keeping the same size relationship between the planets.

Here's an example: Tatoonie was 6499 miles in diameter so we divided by 1000 to get 6.5 miles and then just converted it to inches so it would be 6.5 inches. Then we did the same thing for all the other planets.

You can see that in addition to the calculator, we also have a ruler and a flexible Tape Measure in the photo -- I'll tell you more about those in a few minutes.

And yes, calculator skills are good for exercises like this -- kids use them in school so it's nice to give them some opportunities are home to understand when they should use a calculator and when they can really rely on their mental math skills.

Next, round up as many sports balls or round objects to use as planets.

On the worksheet, we calculate the diameter of each planet so a circular object or sphere would have a diameter (which is measured when you have a straight line going through the center of the sphere).

Ok, we have our measurements & our sports balls -- time to measure the diameter.

So ask the kids how they will do that -- and I'm sure they will grab the ruler and try to measure AROUND the ball.

:)

Remember when I said math terms would come up in the discussion?!

Here's where we remind them that the measurement around the ball is the CIRCUMFERENCE of the circle or sphere.

So next question: Can you measure the diamter of a 3D object?

Nope -- you can't put the ruler through the ball.

Now you have two choices --

• For younger kids, you can use the measurements in your last column as the circumference measurment instead of the diameter. Remember the idea for a scale model, as long as you use the same calculations with all of your items, you are keeping the same relationship.

• The second option is to calculate the circumference of each planet.

This can be done by using the forumla: Circumference = 3.14 x diameter

Obvioulsy this is much more advanced math and if you have high school kids, this is a great opportunity to have them work with pi (3.14)

We always love to link books with our activities especially things like math concepts -- here's a few that we love:

We went the first option and began calculating the circumference of the various sports balls we had gathered.

This is where a flexible Tape Measure comes in really handy! I have one in my sewing kit so you might check there if you or someone at your home does any sewing.

As we found balls that fit our planet size, we would set them in the yard next to their planet sign.

We decided to line them up to get an idea of their size relationship to one another -- that HUGE green yoga ball is Yavin Prime!

Then we grouped them a little closer to get an idea of scale -- most of the planets we remember from Star Wars: A New Hope are pretty similiar in size. Hoth, Dagobah, Tatooine and Alderaan were dwarfed by Yavin Prime.

Ultimately, kids will be able to see which planets are about the same size vs which are mega planets -- and also great a really good grip on how scale models can work.

Get the FREE printable set of Star Wars math worksheets & build your own galaxy!

Oh what a fun way to learn! My kids are bit too young for the full activity, but from reading your post I got some ideas on how to adapt your lesson to younger age. Thanks for inspiration! We are always up to some Star Wars Science!

Oh what a fun way to learn! My kids are bit too young for the full activity, but from reading your post I got some ideas on how to adapt your lesson to younger age. Thanks for inspiration! We are always up to some Star Wars Science!

Isn't it fun to tie STEM activities to the kids' favorite movies?! Glad you have some ideas for adapting -- it would be easy to leave out all the measurements for younger kids and just order the 'planets' by size (larger/smaller). Would love to hear your adaptations ideas too!

Isn't it fun to tie STEM activities to the kids' favorite movies?! Glad you have some ideas for adapting -- it would be easy to leave out all the measurements for younger kids and just order the 'planets' by size (larger/smaller). Would love to hear your adaptations ideas too!